Planning Case Study 149
North Ridge Community School, Doncaster
Planning scenario(s)
Heritage assets affected
Non-designated heritage assets with archaeological and historic interest
Type of application & broad category
Local planning authority
Authority: Doncaster Council
References: 07/01456/3FULM
Development proposal
New special school, c.1.5ha.
Archaeological information known about the site before the planning application was made, or before the development commenced, as appropriate
Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster, is an area that the archaeological advice service to the LPA considered to be archaeologically sensitive given the number of discoveries made previously, including the burial of a Viking woman with a pair of tortoise broaches.
Archaeological/planning processes
The archaeological adviser to the LPA requested pre-determination desk-based assessment of the proposal. This suggested the site's potential was low partly because no finds were known from the site, although in the opinion of the archaeological adviser the potential was still unknown and could have been significant.
However, in view of the desk-based assessment’s conclusions, the archaeological adviser decided not to request a full pre-determination evaluation, and recommended to the LPA that further investigative work could be secured by a pre-commencement condition. The condition was attached and an initial phase of post-determination trial trenching was carried out in order to establish the site's archaeological potential in more detail.
One of the trial trenches revealed three inhumation burials, part of a hitherto unknown cemetery. This confirmed that the site’s archaeological potential was indeed high and that there was a link to the known archaeological evidence from the vicinity.
Further investigative work was therefore agreed under the terms of the planning condition. This went on to reveal a small of cemetery of c. 40 individuals that has been dated to the Anglo-Saxon period - the first confirmed cemetery of this date in South Yorkshire.
Whether this put strain on the budget for the development is unknown but the client was Doncaster Council and they found the resources required. Additional complications resulted from the closure of the field team that carried out the fieldwork and post-excavation assessment. The archaeological advisor discussed this issue with the Council and an alternative contractor was appointed to complete the analysis, reporting and publication required. The only outstanding issue now is archiving, which awaits resolution of issues at Doncaster Museum.
Outcomes: archaeological
A pre-commencement condition was able to secure the excavation and publication of an unexpected regionally important Anglo-Saxon cemetery. The work was completed despite the initial archaeological contractor ceasing trading during the post-excavation phase.
The excavation report abstract summarises the project as follows:
"Excavations by Archaeological Research and Consultancy University of Sheffield in 2007–8 revealed the remains of an Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery at North Ridge Community School, Woodlands, Doncaster. Forty graves were excavated, thirty-seven of which contained in situ burial remains. Radiocarbon samples from five graves gave an overall date range extending from the late seventh to late eight centuries AD. The latter is commensurate with that suggested by the limited range of grave goods recovered from two of the graves. The majority of the burials were made supine and extended within graves predominantly arranged in two rows, and the demographic profile suggests it served a domestic population. There were occasional deviations from the ‘norm’ in burial position and orientation, and one adult female appears to have suffered a violent death. Strontium and Oxygen (Sr/O) isotope analysis of seven individuals showed mixed origins including local, regional/national migrants and two long-distance migrants."
References and links/bibliography
- McKinley, J I, 2016, ‘A Conversion-Period Cemetery at Woodlands, Adwick-le-Street, South Yorkshire’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 88 issue 1, 77- 120.
